SHELOB, THE GREAT SPIDER OF CIRITH UNGOL

Shelob, the Great Spider of Cirith Ungol, is the “last child” of the gargantuan Ungoliant, the mother of all spiders of the First Age. In the Second and Third Ages, Shelob the Great and her offspring – “lesser broods, bastards of [her] miserable mates” – lived in the mountains of Mordor and forest of Mirkwood. The portrayal of Ungoliant and Shelob as monsters capable of paralysing and killing their prey, and who, in the act of mating, cannibalize their male partners, does have some valid basis in zoology. The aptly named widow spiders of the genus Latrodectus do use a potent venom to paralyse or kill their prey, and do have the deeply unpleasant habit of occasionally devouring their much smaller, male partners during the act of mating.

Although Shelob (an Old English construct meaning “She-Spider”) does not reach the majestic proportions of Ungoliant, she is the greatest and largest Spider of the Second and Third Ages. In what could be described in biological terms as a case of successive degeneration, Shelob is about as big as a plough horse, while her offspring, the Spiders of Mirkwood in The Hobbit, are very much smaller and less intelligent.

Shelob is the guardian of the pass of Cirith Ungol (Elvish for “Spider Pass”) where she occupies a complex of tunnels and feeds off anyone of any race who attempts to enter Mordor by that route through Ephel Dúath, the Mountains of Shadow. In TA 3000, Shelob captures Gollum, but releases him on the understanding that he bring her more victims. Nearly two decades later, in the midst of the War of the Ring, Gollum fulfils his promise by leading Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee to her lair.

The Hobbits’ descent into Shelob’s Lair has been described as comparable to the descent into the Underworld in Virgil’s Aeneid. Gollum serves as Frodo and Sam’s guide, just as the Sibyl serves as Aeneas’ guide. Sam uses the Phial of Galadriel to overcome Shelob and escape, while in Virgil’s epic, a golden bough and a drugged cake are used to bypass Charon the ferryman and Cerberus, the three-headed hell-hound. Tales of descent into the Underworld most often relate to attempts by heroes to return loved ones to the world of the living. Aeneas cannot bring his father back to life, but Sam succeeds in reviving Frodo after Shelob’s poison places him in a state resembling death.

Shelob the Great

Just as Ungoliant is the feminine counterpart of Morgoth in the First Age, so Shelob is the feminine counterpart of Sauron in the Second and Third. These monsters serve in both Dark Lords’ plans up to a point. However, ultimately, neither accepts them as their master. Ungoliant turns on Morgoth, while Shelob proves equally ungovernable and serves “none but herself”.

Tolkien’s characterization of his monstrous spider-demons has something in common with the depiction of the Hindu goddess Kali, the eight-limbed Black One and “Destroyer of the World” who dances on the slaughtered body of her lover. Tolkien’s seeming arachnophobic myth-making here, however, is out of step with most of the world’s mythologies, where spiders, in their guise as weavers, generally play a much more positive, even benevolent role. In Africa and the West Indies, for example, there are widespread variations on Anansi, the Ashanti spider creator god who plays the role of the trickster in many folk tales. The Hopi and Navaho peoples of North America, too, have creation myths involving a wise Spider Mother or Spider Grandmother who weaves the world into existence.